A RECKLESS ENCOUNTER by Rosemary Rogers


PUBLISHER: Mira, 12/2001
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1819
TIMESPAN: about 4-5 months
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: Celia St. Remy Sinclair has harbored a dark obsession since the tender age of twelve: to bring about the downfall of Lord Northington, the man responsible for her mother's death. Now an elegant and self-possessed beauty of twenty-two, she leaves America for London, determined to avenge the act of violence that shattered her life.

Celia is stunned when she comes face-to-face with her nemesis -- for this rakishly charming gentleman called Colter is not what she expected. When she discovers he is the new Lord Northington, son of the man she's vowed to destroy, she embarks upon a daring plot to take revenge on the father through the son. But even the best-laid plans can be thwarted by the powerful forces of the human heart...


MY THOUGHTS: This reminded me a lot of an older historical romance for a few reasons. Celia hated Colter because of what his father did to her mother. Colter knew nothing about his father's past sins and didn't know or care why she was so hostel towards him. She was kidnapped towards the end by the villain, which happens a whole lot in older historicals. For a lot of the book Celia hated Colter but he wasn't deterred by it and he never let it stop him from trying to bed her. So there was a love/hate relationship between them for awhile, which is very common amongst older historicals. There was a nine year age gap between them and I liked that too. I hate when the hero is just a couple of years older than the heroine, which is very common with newer romances.

I liked Celia. She's a green-eyed blond. She's a bit of a spitfire when it comes to Colter and I really like heroines to be like that. I rarely find one like that in newer historicals, which is a shame. She was born in Virginia to a French-born mother and was living in Georgetown, D.C. when she left for England to get revenge on Colter's father, who is a rapist and murderer. She stayed with her aunt Jacqueline, who is also her Godmother.

I liked Colter a whole lot too. He's thirty-one, has dark hair and blue eyes though the stepback (the page directly behind the front cover of a book showing hero and heroine) has him with blond hair. His dialogue towards her when she's being bitchy to him made me smile constantly. Unfortunately there wasn't any background information given on him.

There was also some drama involving something Celia unknowingly had in her possession, stuffed inside a directory that a ship passenger, James Carlisle, let her borrow, that she was unaware people were after. I got confused along the way with that whole mess. It's still unclear to me about what happened with the item and who has it now.

I enjoyed the friction between Celia and Colter and I did feel their attraction for each other. They make a good pair.

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